Review Summary:

The Word Creativity Kit provides a unique system to explore the interplay between text and visual design that will stimulate creativity as well as creative writing.

App Info

Price: $4.99AppStore User Rating:

Overview

The Word Creativity Kit offers users a playground to make creations with words, colors, designs and pictures. Limited only by their imaginations and vision, users make virtual books that can serve as journals, notebooks, or canvases to be shared with others.

Features include:

7 categories of words or add your own

Manipulate fonts, colors, backgrounds, designs and pictures

Place words anywhere on the page, change the angle, or resize

Includes over 4500 words

Save as many books as you wish

Quality

The Word Creativity Kit is a phenomenal app that is very intuitive to use. Designers have incorporated clear directions about the app’s features, accessible from the home screen or the main book page by tapping the question mark. A menu of the app’s functions appears, and when each item is pressed, there is a graphic showing exactly how to use the feature. Users have a lot of control over the look and feel of each page, and can create very attractive composite pieces.

Developers have added the capability to open, read and save creations in several different ereader apps, including Adobe Acrobat, iBooks, and more. Books can also be shared between devices via AirDrop or DropBox. This is a nice feature for older users, but may present some security concerns for younger users. One improvement for developers to consider would be a system to make creations private to specific users. Since one use for the app would be to journal, the content could get quite personal and some may limit themselves if they feel others could view their work without permission.

Education

This app goes far beyond a simple creative writing system because it combines the visual appeal of an art program with the fun of finding just the right words for poetry, stories, or other text. The app “jumpstarts” the creative process by offering a selection of randomly-chosen words on the blank page. It’s possible to choose few, medium, or many random words. It’s also possible to begin a page by inserting your own words. Users can add, remove, modify, or rearrange to their hearts’ content. Change the background, add pictures or stickers, change the tense or form of the words, and more to create just the right look and feel for the project. It’s a perfect opportunity for self-expression that will encourage and nurture literacy, writing skills, and vocabulary. The app’s designers say it is appropriate for children ages 8 and up, and it would likely be just as popular with middle and high schoolers as well as middle and upper elementary users. Even adults will enjoy letting their imaginations wander and seeing what they can create.

Teachers will think of many uses, but one big one would be experimenting with poetry. Many students find writing poetry to be one of the most intimidating activities in English class, and this app takes the pain and frustration out of the process, even for the most insecure writers. It eliminates the need to erase, crumple paper in frustration and start over and over again. The app also will lend itself to story-telling, with the included array of backgrounds and stickers, as well as access to your device’s camera roll.

The developers have included a short guide that lists a number of usage ideas for different situations. This is accessible in the “Usage Ideas” section on the home screen, and the document can open in many different applications, such as iBooks, Acrobat, or various name-brand readers. The file also can be sent to other devices via Dropbox or shared via AirDrop.

Entertainment

This app isn’t really designed for entertainment, but the sheer joy of creating will make it a favorite for many users. Stickers range from the cute to the sublime, concrete to symbolic. It would be very possible to create an entire story without words using the characters, props and backgrounds, but even the least verbal students are likely to be tempted to add a word or two to their creations as caption or description, since they can control font, angle, size, color, and placement.

Value

The Word Creativity Kit is an excellent value. With an extensive built-in vocabulary as well as the option to add words to any page, the app can grow with the user. The stickers and backgrounds offer a lot of options for visual creativity, and access to the camera roll means that users can take their own pictures, as well. Together, these features mean the app can be very personalized, which is very nice.

Child Friendliness

This app includes no outside advertisements or in-app purchases. A Parents’ Area that contains information about the developers, the rating pop-up, and the Air Drop system is protected by a parent gate that uses a simple multiplication fact with several given answer choices. This may not be very effective, because children in the target age group of 9-11 years typically are memorizing these answers. In the parents’ area, parents and teachers can see other apps by the same developer in the App Store or open a web browser to interact with social media, view the privacy policy or visit the developers’ web site. The app allows access to a wide array of ebook applications, AirDrop, and DropBox via links protected by the same type of gate. These functions should be made less accessible by using a more challenging gate that is less likely to be circumvented by the target age group.

Protected parent area (contains external links & social media)

NO in-app purchase

NO 3rd party ads

YES parent area, air drop, and other links protected by a simple multiplication fact

YES ratings pop-up protected by a simple multiplication fact

The Word Creativity Kit provides a unique system to explore the interplay between text and visual design that will stimulate creativity as well as creative writing.

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